There are exactly zero NFL teams with a .500 record right now.

Fourteen teams have winning records and the other 18 teams having losing records, giving us the clearest picture yet of the NFL playoff race.

The Colts, Vikings, and Seahawks firmly put themselves in the wild card hunt, while the Dolphins, Eagles, and Jets all took brutal loses.

Click here to see the rankings >

Once again, here's how we came up with them.

We took our rankings from last week and moved teams up and down based on the following criteria:

• A win: up 2 spots
• A loss: down 1 spot
• A loss by 10+ points: down 2 spots
• A win against a top-5 team from the week before: up 2 spots
• A win against a top-12 team from the week before (aka, a playoff team): up 1 spot
• Covering the point spread: up 1 spot
• A winning record: up 1 spot
• A losing record: down 1 spot
• No team with a winning record can be outside the top 16

1. Houston Texans (#3 last week): Beat the Bears

Record: 8-1

Biggest thing we learned this week: The defense can single-handedly win a big game on the road.

2. Atlanta Falcons (#1 last week): Lost to the Saints

Record: 8-1

Biggest thing we learned this week: The running game is starting to go in the tank. They're now 25th in the league in yards per rush.

3. Baltimore Ravens (#5 last week): Beat the Raiders

Record: 7-2

Biggest thing we learned this week: They're great at home. Baltimore isn't talked about as being a tough place to play, but the Ravens are undefeated there this year.

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On November 10th, the U.S. Marine Corps celebrated its 237th birthday.

“The few, the proud” who serve are not only part of one of the most effective fighting forces in history, but also one of the most storied organizations in the world.

Here are 11 things you might not know about the Marines.

1. The first retired Marine to ever receive an honorary promotion was in a Stanley Kubrick movie.

In Full Metal Jacket, actor Tim Colceri is famous for his helicopter scene wherein he says over machine gun fire, “Anyone who runs is a VC. Anyone who stands still is a well-disciplined VC.”

He would have been even more famous in the part for which he was originally cast—as the strict and unrelenting senior drill instructor, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. That role, however, went to R. Lee Ermey, who had been hired for the film as a technical advisor.

Ermey, a former Marine drill sergeant and Vietnam veteran, filmed a tense 20-minute reel of himself in character dressing down and squaring away the movie’s extras, without repeating himself, all while being pelted with tennis balls and oranges. When director Stanley Kubrick saw the video, he recast Ermey for the role on the spot.

Hartman became perhaps the most famous gunnery sergeant in the history of the Corps. Ermey, however, retired as a Staff Sergeant. In 2002, the Marine Corps granted him an honorary promotion in accordance with the rank for which he is most associated. He is the first retiree in the history of the Marines to receive such an honor.

2. Why they've fought 'From the Halls of Montezuma…'

The Marines’ Hymn famously begins, “From the Halls of Montezuma…” This refers to the Battle of Chapultepec in 1847, in which U.S. Marines conquered Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City, and subsequently occupied the city as part of the Mexican-American War.

The battle is also famous (according to Marine tradition) for the establishment of the “blood stripe,” a red stripe sewn into the trousers of the uniform commemorating the Marines killed at Chapultepec.

3. …'To the shores of Tripoli.'

In 1801, the United States decided to do something about piracy in the Mediterranean, and President Jefferson sent in the Navy. In 1805, the Marines finished the job. The Battle of Derne, on the shores of Tripoli during the First Barbary War, was the decisive action of the war, and the first overseas land battle fought by the United States military.

In 2011, the U.S. Marine Corps returned to Libya as part of Operation Odyssey Dawn.

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A total solar eclipse happened Tuesday afternoon.

The phenomenon won't happen again until March 2015, according to Space.com.

Only a sliver of northern Australia (where it was Nov. 14) was lucky enough see the sky darken for a few minutes during the pre-dawn hours as the moon passed between the Earth and the sun.

For the majority of us who were not in the path of the total solar eclipse, Panasonic had two live broadcasts of the solar eclipse from Port Douglas and Fitzroy Island. Here are some pictures from the entire event. 

Have pictures of the total solar eclipse? Send your photos to dspector@businessinsider.com and we'll share them here.

Hours before the event, thousands of people gathered on the beach to watch the total solar eclipse.

Telescope equipment was set up to run live streams, since the eclipse was not visible to most parts of the world.

Fitzroy Island, Nov. 14, 5:51 a.m. local time in Australia.

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Live in a beautiful Tudor home on 20 acres of land in Tuxedo Park, GA for $14.9 million.

The home has 11 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, and four half-baths.

The estate has a wine cellar and a grotto, a spa, guesthouse, and a theater.

Welcome to Tuxedo Park.

The home is two stories.

When you first walk in, you'll see this huge chandelier and double staircase.

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Google Mars is a spin-off of Google Earth that shows interactive maps of the Red Planet's surface.  

The feature was released in 2009 as part of the free downloadable Google Earth app, but until now, most of the satellite images were low-resolution.  

The program received a major update this week, thanks to high-definition images beamed back from the Context Camera on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Now, Earth-bound folks can hone down to 20 feet per pixel on the planet's surface.

That's a crisper picture than most areas of our planet covered by Google Earth, which typically have a resolution of 50 feet per pixel, Wired's Adam Mann points out.  

Ready for a tour?

To start exploring, click on the orange Saturn icon at the top of the Google Earth screen and select "Mars."

For a more detailed view, turn on the CTX Mosaic listed under "Global Maps" on the left-hand side.

Previously, only small patches of the planet's surface could be seen from images taken by the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

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In football, maybe more than the other major team sports, the head coach can be the difference between a team that wins and a team that doesn't. On the next few pages, we'll take a look at the best coaches in recent memory.

To qualify, a coach must have began his head coaching career in the last 25 years and coached at least 80 games (5 seasons). Then the coaches were ranked based on their regular season record, playoff record, and Super Bowl record.

Here are the best, a few names may surprise you.

#15 John Fox

Teams: Panthers, Broncos

Seasons: 11

Regular Season Record: 87-82

Playoff Record: 6-4

Super Bowl Record: 0-1

#14 Jon Gruden

Teams: Raiders, Buccaneers

Seasons: 11

Regular Season Record: 95-81

Playoff Record: 5-4

Super Bowl Record: 1-0

#13 Tony Dungy

Teams: Buccaneers, Colts

Seasons: 13

Regular Season Record: 139-69

Playoff Record: 9-10

Super Bowl Record: 1-0

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The 2010 Toyota Corolla is the most reliable car sold in the United States, according to a report released today.

The car requires fewer repairs than any other car — 2002 model year or later — and the repairs it needs are inexpensive.

At $283.12, it is far less than expensive than the average repair costs for some models, which can be in excess of $700.

Check out the most trusted cars >

Vehicle reliability and repair diagnostics company CarMD’s latest annual Vehicle Health Index is a massive study conducted on thousands of different models currently on the road.

Based on CarMD’s index, which measures the frequency and expense of necessary repairs, 24/7 Wall St. identified the 10 most reliable cars.

In an interview with 24/7 Wall St., CarMD director of corporate communications Kristen Brocoff explained the importance of considering both measures. The Toyota Prius rarely goes in for repairs. But when it does, the most common repair involves the hybrid battery, which can cost as much as $3,000.

Many of these brands have long-standing reputations for reliability. “What we’re seeing in our data is that, historically, there have been those sweetheart brands that everybody says are the brand of the year, the cars of the year,” Brocoff explained.

Many of the manufacturers on this list, such as Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. Ltd. and Hyundai, all score highly on CarMD’s reliability rank. This reputation helps sell vehicles.

These models have been among the best-selling in the country for years. Of the 10 cars with the best scores, six sold more than 100,000 units in 2011 and are well on track to do the same this year, including models such as the Accord, Sonata and Corolla, flagships for their respective makers. The Honda Accord, the Hyundai Sonata and the Toyota Corolla were among the top 20 selling cars in the first 10 months of 2012.

Meanwhile, sales for some of the less-popular models that made the top 10 most reliable list, such as Ford Motor Co.’s Taurus, the Honda Pilot and the Subaru Forester and Outback, are growing.

Brocoff added that some of the cars with poorer reputations for reliability may improve. “We’re starting to see with today’s technology, manufacturers are really able to make cars that will last longer than ever before. It has really evened the playing field, and there are lots of models that may not always be the names you are used to.” Brocoff  pointed to the Ford Taurus in particular as a model that has flown under the radar, but may increasingly be known as a reliable model over time.

The CarMD November 2012 Vehicle Health Index is based on more than 10 years of data from car diagnostic computers from the vast majority of 2002 to 2012 model year cars sold in the United States. Weighting evenly the average costs of repairs related to “check engine”  lights — issues identified by onboard vehicle computer accounting for roughly 80% of all problems — and how often each model was taken in for those repairs, CarMD assigned a reliability score for each model by year. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 models with the best scores. Included in our analysis were five years of car sales data for all years for each model provided by Edmunds.com. From the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) we obtained crash and rollover safety data. We also referenced J.D. Power’s vehicle dependability study. All index ranks we list are out of the 100 best-ranked cars.

These are America’s most trusted cars.

10. 2010 Subaru Outback

Overall index rating: 0.111 (tied for 8th best)
Repair incidents, index rating: 0.168 (22nd best)
Avg. repair cost: $110.43 (14th lowest)
Year-to-date model sales: 95,357

Subaru Outbacks are both highly reliable and inexpensive to repair. The average check engine light repair costs just over $110 in a 2010 Outback. The 2010 model year also was rated as extremely safe, according to the NHTSA, which gave the car five stars for front and side crash safety. This year, the Outback has sold especially well, with 95,357 cars sold in the first 10 months of 2012. However, Subarus are not without problems. The make “had a tendency to require the replacement of the catalytic converter,” a problem that accounted for 22% of all check engine light repairs in Subarus of all models. Correcting this problem is especially expensive in a Subaru, costing owners an average of over $930 per repair.

9. 2011 Chevrolet Impala

Overall index rating: 0.111 (tied for 8th best)
Repair incidents, index rating: 0.144 (14th best)
Avg. repair cost: $184.30 (31st lowest)
Year-to-date model sales: 148,547

The average repair cost of $184.30 for the Chevrolet Impala was on the lower end of the vehicles measured. It was also significantly less than the $290.50 repair average for all General Motor Co. vehicles. J.D. Power and Associates gave the 2011 Impala a “better than most” rating in terms of predicted reliability. However, it only received a rating of “about average” for overall quality and a rating of “the rest,” the lowest given by J.D. Power, for overall performance and design. Sales of the Impala have declined significantly in recent years. Chevrolet sold 171,434 Impalas in 2011, down from 311,128 in 2007.

8. 2010 Hyundai Sonata

Overall index rating: 0.111 (tied for 8th best)
Repair incidents, index rating: 0.112 (4th best)
Avg. repair cost: $336.30 (19th highest)
Year-to-date model sales: 192,119

In 2012, Hyundai bolstered its reputation when CarMD named it the second-most dependable manufacturer, behind Toyota. Among the reasons for the high rating was the low cost of an average repair for all Hyundai models — just $272. The manufacturer’s best rated car, the 2010 Hyundai Sonata, required repairs less often than all but three other car models. This year, the Hyundai Sonata is one of the nation’s best-selling cars, with more than 192,000 sold in the first 10 months of 2012. However, the 2010 Sonata did receive less-than-stellar ratings from J.D. Power, which rated the model “about average” for quality, as well as for performance and design. Sales of the Sonata may be hurt after the backlash from Hyundai’s admission that it misrepresented fuel economy of more than 100,000 of its vehicles.

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The island behind Javier Bardem's master hideaway in "Skyfall" does not have a happy story.

If you've seen the 23rd Bond film, you remember the abandoned island housing Bardem's villain. Its remains reminded us of the ruinous, barren wasteland Christopher Nolan depicted in "Inception."

Unlike Nolan's film, the deserted island shown in the latest Bond flick isn't a dream. It's real. 

And, it didn't always look the way it did in "Skyfall." 

Located off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan, is the now-abandoned island of Hashima.

In 1959, the small island was overflowing with people, of essential use to Japan for its underground coal mines. Today, the abandoned Hashima mirrors a post-apocalyptic world.

A documentary of the island appearing on YouTube reveals some of the more harrowing details of the island.

Located nearly 18 miles from Nagasaki, Japan is the island of Hashima.

Also known as Battleship Island, the entire plot of land is 480 by 150 meters.

(Japan Guide)

The Mitsubishi Corporation purchased the island in 1890 with the purpose of using the island as one of Japan's primary coal mining facilities during World War II, the Korean War, and afterward.

(Japan Guide)

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This weekend, Reuters' Michelle Conlin wrote a widely circulated report on shoddy conditions at a "tent city" that had been set up in Ocean Port, NJ, for Sandy refugees. 

The story was originally reported by Asbury Park Press reporter Stephen Edelson, who described anger and despair at the conditions inside the camp — freezing temperatures, helicopters constantly circling overhead and no Internet.

"It’s like being prison," one man told him.

We wanted to see for ourselves what conditions had been like, so we hopped on the Seatrack ferry from Lower Manhattan to check it out.

We got there to discover the encampment had been abandoned, and later learned the state had moved its inhabitants across the street to the clubhouse at Monmouth Racetrack. 

Still, we were able to make our way inside to catch a glimpse of what the inside of the "microcity," as New Jersey's Department of Human Services referred to it.

We were able to interview Nicole Brossoie, the state's assistant commissioner of public affairs, to get an update of what had happened.

Read on to hear the story of this bizarre event that defined chaos after the storm.  

We were turned away at the front entrance — media were technically not allowed to enter.

But we found a way in to the "microcity," which was built by a New Hampshrie-based firm called ResponseForce1

Brossoie told us that the camp was never meant for refugees, rather repair crews who'd traveled in to address damage

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What persuades an investor to write a check for an entrepreneur's raw idea? We spoke with active angel investors and venture capitalists, as well as scouring the Web, to compile a list of some of the best startup pitches ever.

From those, we learned a few things to keep in mind if you want to make a great pitch. 

• If you don't grab people within the first minute, they're going to start checking their email.

• Tell the story through the problem. It needs to be a story about problems and solutions.  

• Have a concrete business plan and drive home how you're going to make money.

• Know your material, and keep the energy up.

• When pitching directly to an investor, make sure you say what you're going to do with the money.

• Finish strongly and sum up why someone should invest in the company.

That's Suspicious Behavior, Launch Festival 2012

Company: That's Suspicious Behavior

Founders: Brigette Kidd, Danielle Evenson, Scott Volk

Product: Mobile app to report suspicious behavior and activity in your area

Why it's a great pitch: First, Kidd engages the audience by taking a show of hands to see who actually uses neighborhood watch. Hardly anyone raised their hands.

Next, she immediately gets right into the pain point. She mentions that within four weeks in a three-block radius, five women reported five separate incidents of a creepy person exposing himself outside their windows. Authorities knew but the victims didn't know. 

That's when she shows her solution, the That's Suspicious Behavior mobile app. But it also helped to have some humor. While walking the audience through the app, Kidd points out that you can also hit the "Red pin (for) aggressive begging, which is appropriate for today." 

Where That's Suspicious Behavior is now: The company won Best Presentation at the Launch Festival and secured a $50,000 investment pledge from MailChimp, an email-newsletter company that sponsored the conference.

Loopt, Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2008

Company: Loopt

Product: Mobile app for connecting people on the go

Founders: Alok Deshpande, Sam Altman, Nick Sivo

Why it's a great pitch: After a brief intro of the product, Altman brings up the pain point. He says it's amazing how often you're at a restaurant a couple of blocks away from a friend or in an airport with a friend, and don't know about it. 

Then he goes back into the product to show how Loopt's new iPhone app solves that issue. It's not your typical pitch to a VC but it's short, concise, and to the point.

Where Loopt is now: Green Dot Corporation acquired Loopt earlier this year for $43 million. Before the acquisition, Loopt had raised $32 million from investors like Y Combinator, New Enterprise Associates, and Sequoia Capital.

Yext, TechCrunch 50 2009

Company: Yext

Product: Pay-per-action phone calls advertising business that manages and summarizes relevant phone calls

Founders: Howard Lerman, Brian Distelburger, Brent Metz

Why it's a great pitch: Lerman immediately presents the problem, which is that local businesses want phone calls and not clicks. But if you charge on a pay-per-call basis, businesses end up paying for irrelevant calls.  

Lerman then shows how Yext plans to solve that issue. He uses an example of Frank's auto-repair in Alaska, and walks the audience through how Frank can customize his profile to receive relevant calls. 

He then asks the audience, what kind of car he should call Frank about and actually does a live call. After waiting a couple of minutes, he demonstrates how the call information successfully ends up in Frank's inbox.

Lerman's presentation is the perfect example of show, not tell.

Where Yext is now: Since debuting at TechCrunch 50 in 2009, Yext has developed an entirely new product for local businesses called PowerListings for managing their listings across sites like Yelp, SuperPages, Citysearch, and others. PowerListings is now used by more than 50,000 paying locations.

To date, Yext has raised $65.8 million from investors including Institutional Venture Partners, SV Angel, and CrunchFund. It is currently valued at around $200 million.

Video streaming by Ustream

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Real estate prices in Hong Kong are sky-high.

Hong Kong is already one of the most overpriced markets in the world, according to buy-to-rent ratios, and home to the most expensive street in the world.

It's also the most expensive place to rent a luxury apartment, and Hong Kong's Causeway Bay just overtook New York City's Fifth Avenue to become the most expensive shopping street in the world.

We took a look at some of the most expensive homes currently on the market in this over-the-top city.

For $23.2 million, buy this home known as Strawberry Hill in The Peak, one of Hong Kong's most exclusive areas. The home has three bedrooms and one bathroom.

Click here to see more photos of the home >

For $24.3 million, buy this 3-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom home in Tai Hang. The house has a terrace and an elevator.

Click here to see more photos of the home >

For $28.3 million, purchase this nearly 4,000-square-foot home on Mount Kellett Road in The Peak.

Click here to see more photos of the home >

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Cadillac has a big plan to return to the top of the luxury market now dominated by foreign brands like Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW, and the all-new ATS is a crucial part of it.

To prove the once-great brand is back in business, GM gave me a Premium 3.6L ATS (worth $50,035) for a weekend.

I used the opportunity to drive from New York to Boston and back. Over the nearly 500 miles on the car, I got to test out all its features, and really see how it compares to the best.

Read my full review to see how it stacks up, and take a look at the photos from my test drive to see for yourself.

The 3.6L engine produces 321 hp, and its 5.4 second 0 to 60 mph time matches that of the BMW 335i.

The ATS is a big part of Cadillac's plan to compete with luxury makes like Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW.

The Premium model I drove had the Cadillac logo and name all over.

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Hope Solo got married to ex-NFL player Jerramy Stevens yesterday.

Given Stevens' criminal record, and the fact that they were only dating for two months, it was a huge shock.

How did one of the most recognizable female athletes in the country end up with one of the most infamous football players of the last decade?

In her book, "Solo: A Memoir of Hope," Solo writes about her rough childhood, her checkered dating history, and her clashes with coaches and teammates. She makes it clear that she's far from a clean-cut "role model" that some people make her out to be.

We read the book this summer and pulled out 12 surprising anecdotes that explain where she comes from and who she is.

She was kidnapped by her father when she was 7

Solo's father Gerry was homeless and constantly in trouble with the law. One afternoon he picked up Hope and her brother without their mother knowing and took them on a trip to Seattle.

Hope's mother contacted the police, and a few days later Gerry was arrested in a Seattle bank.

Source: Solo: A Memoir Of Hope

Her childhood was rougher than we thought

Not only was her father homeless, her mother struggled with alcoholism and her brother was always in trouble at school.

The family also had money troubles. They were evicted after Gerry was sent to prison, and in her teen years, Hope's mother and step-father told her she should quit the national travel soccer team she was playing for because it was too expensive.

Eventually, community members pitched in and paid Hope's travel expenses.

Source: Solo: A Memoir Of Hope

She likes to party

There's lots of little instances where Hope gets wild in this book.

One time, the US was holding a training camp in southern California when Hope and a friend drove to Vegas, partied through the night, and then drove back for training the next day without sleeping.

Source: Solo: A Memoir Of Hope

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"Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" host Guy Fieri has become one of the biggest food show hosts out there, and he has a new restaurant called Guy's American Kitchen and Bar in New York City's Times Square.

New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells absolutely destroyed the place in a review, giving it zero stars and a "POOR" rating.

The review itself is done as a series of questions posed to Guy Fieri and is hilariously weird.

We toured Fieri's restaurant shortly after it opened, and while we didn't try the food, we can show you what it's like in the massive complex.

Here we are at the three-floor complex in the former New York Times Building. It's located right next to Bowlmor Lanes and Discovery Times Square.

And there's Guy on a screen near the entrance, promoting his Food Network show.

Inside is the gift shop, packed with all sorts of Guy memorabilia.

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The NFL is probably the league in which it is most difficult to compare the value of individual players from different positions and different teams. However, the folks over Pro-Football-Reference.com have come up with one stat, Approximate Value (AV) that attempts to do just that.

On the next few pages we will take a look at the ten greatest seasons by offensive players during the Super Bowl era (1966-present), based on AV (total touchdowns were used as a tie-breaker).

As the name suggests, these values are just approximations, so take the exact order with a little grain of salt. However, a strong case can be made that these are the best seasons as a whole...

#10 Marshall Faulk, Rams (2000)

Position: RB

Key stats: 2,189 yards from scrimmage (1,359 rushing, 830 receiving)

Total touchdowns: 26

Approximate Value: 22

#9 Steve Young, 49ers (1993)

Position: QB

Key stats: 4,023 passing yards, 407 yards rushing

Total touchdowns: 31 (29 passing, 2 rushing)

Approximate Value: 23

#8 Aaron Rodgers, Packers (2011)

Position: QB

Key stats: 4,643 yards passing, 257 yards rushing

Total touchdowns: 48 (45 passing, 3 rushing)

Approximate Value: 23

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Zaha Hadid has been a pioneer in the field of architecture, becoming the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize (the Nobel Prize of her field) in 2004.

Hadid, who was born in Iraq in 1950, recently told Glamour, “I always wanted to be an architect. My house was like Auntie Mame’s, with my mother redecorating every season.”

She studied architecture at the Architectural Association from 1972 and was awarded the Diploma Prize in 1977. 

Hadid's first building in the United States, the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, was applauded by critics, according to The New York Times. When she won the Pritzker in 2004, The NYT wrote of her reputation:

Ms. Hadid's personal charisma has also helped to publicize her work, though to mixed effect. Beloved by journalists and members of her own profession for what is frequently described as her diva presence, Ms. Hadid has only recently found the clients willing to look beyond her reputation for being difficult.

She's now based in London, and is currently working on 43 buildings with her 360-person studio, according to Glamour.

Her buildings all seem fluid and have beautiful curves and arches. These are some of her most incredible designs.

Completed in 2003, the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati was Hadid's first project in the United States. It was a huge critical success.

Source: New York Times

After the success of the Rosenthal Center, Hadid was hired for several other projects. The BMW Central Building in Leipzing, Germany was among the first. It was completed in May 2005.

Source: New York Times

She also designed the Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg in 2005. The New York Times called it "the kind of building that utterly transforms our vision of the future."

Source: New York Times

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The Historic Stevens Estate in Bernardsville, NJ is on sale for $12.885 million.

The house sits on 15 acres of land, and has seven bedrooms, eight full bathrooms, and four half-baths.

The estate was the summer vacation spot of Robert Livingston Stevens, whose family helped develop steam-powered boats and locomotives. They also founded Stevens Institute of Technology.

Today, it's being sold by architect Jeffrey Beer.

Welcome to the Historic Stevens Estate.

It's a European-style estate in rural New Jersey.

The attention to detail is outstanding.

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Imaging having fresh lettuce and herbs available any day, any season. That usually seems like a pipe dream in the tiny fourth-floor walk up apartments of New York, but Brooklyn-based start up Windowfarms says you can have it all — by growing plants vertically in your windows.

We previously introduced you to the windowfarms idea back in May of 2011, when they were just training people to make window gardens using plastic bottles.

The Brooklyn-based company has expanded their operations and even created a commercial product — a set of four vertically hanging pots and the water system to grow plants will set you back $119.95.

Their first batch of planters is sold out, but you can get on their waiting list for the second batch. We saw the planters in action as an installation in the new American Museum of Natural History exhibit Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture. There, we talked to Britta Riley and got the scoop on the planters.

The garden display holds 280 plants a variety of fruits, vegetables, and herbs. The exhibit opens November 17, 2012 and runs until August 11, 2013.

Windowfarms are vertical gardens designed to grow food year-round in your home. Windows provide the light and the warmth inside keeps the plants happy all year long.

Hydroponic systems do not use soil. The plants are grown in water with organic material holding it together. Here a stevia plant is grown in rock wool.

In the Windowfarms system, nutrient rich water is continuously pumped up from a reserve. The water travels to the top plant then goes down from one container to the next. The water nourishes the the plant roots until it reaches the reservoir and repeats the journey.

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Yesterday, BMW brought its BMW i Born Electric Tour to New York City. At the daylong event, it hosted panels on the future of mobility, particularly in cities, and discussed ways to move toward a sustainable future.

It was the perfect venue to introduce the convertible version of the i8, a plug-in hybrid BMW first unveiled in 2009. It's a gorgeous, attention-grabbing car that delivers a whole lot of power.

More impressive to me, however, was the i3, the purely electric car that was tucked away in a corner. It is less obviously cool than the i8 Spyder, but appealing in its own way. More importantly, it's the practical one of the pair, with room for four people and luggage.

Between them, BMW has covered two approaches to developing the electric car market: Going after luxury buyers who want speed and beauty, and targeting families looking for a practical vehicle that eliminates the cost of gas.

Peter Miles, Head of Electric Vehicle Strategy and Operations at BMW of North America, stressed the concept of "purpose built," meaning that these cars are made from the ground up to be electric cars, rather than conventional cars with a battery instead of an engine.

And while that idea is not unique — Tesla makes only electric cars, so everything it does is "purpose built"— it's clear that BMW has produced two very impressive cars. And with an automaker as formidable as BMW entering the electric vehicle market, others are likely to follow.

The i3 and i8 are headed for production in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Although BMW released images of the Spyder in April, they pulled a cover off it yesterday to add some flair to the event.

Because the i8 coupe is made from strong carbon fiber, BMW did not have to re-engineer the i8 coupe. It just cut the top off.

The stats are impressive, especially for an electric car: it has 356 hp, goes from 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds, and has a top speed of 155 mph.

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It’s incredible how fast the value of currency is changing these days; by that we mean it’s incredible how fast that 20 euro bill in your wallet suddenly turns into a couple awkwardly large coins lost somewhere at the bottom of your backpack.

While studying abroad may feel like an extended vacation most of the time, one thing is most certainly not luxurious about the experience: your ever-tightening budget.

The good people at Party Earth understand your desire to avoid the inevitable kiss-of-death email from Mom with the subject line “stop spending money on alcohol.”

They also understand the importance of spending money on beer, which is why they’ve compiled a list of great student bars throughout Europe that are guaranteed to offer you a cheap drink and a good time.

This story was originally published by Party Earth.

N’Importe Quoi: Paris

If you are on the hunt for the kind of bar that still has an “Operation Flash Boob” policy in place that awards free shots to girls who show their assets, N’importe Quoi is the quintessential place to make that happen.

Although it isn’t much to look at on the inside or out, this tiny dive bar offers endless drink specials and no-frills fun. From the bottle-spinning bartenders, to the rowdy crowd of college students looking for some cheap thrills, everything about N’importe Quoi makes it one of the perfect bars in Paris for some down-to-earth boozing.

16 Rue du Roule
75001 Paris

The Roxy: London

Although The Roxy boasts ivory chandeliers, chamois barstools, and sleek leather loungers, patrons will most likely be focused on dancing to the venue’s retro and pop DJs and surviving the crowd swell of university students. If you get to The Roxy early enough you can enjoy half-priced wine and beer during Happy Hour that runs Monday though Friday. Wednesday is official student night where you will find crowds of rowdy lads and lasses enjoying affordable drinks and socializing shoulder-to-shoulder.

3 Rathbone Place
London W1D 1

Chupitos: Barcelona

Chupitos is a rowdy bar that specializes in creative shots and dramatic bar service performances, some of which involve lighting the bar on fire with a blowtorch. The tiny bar attracts a mix of fun-loving locals and young international travelers looking to grab a simple and cheap drink. The venue is a dark hall with a bar on one side and spunky menu board featuring shots with names like “the General” and “the Monica Lewinsky” on the other. The cramped but wild atmosphere at Chupitos makes this one of the best bars in Barcelona to pregame some late-night adventures.

Passeig de Colón, 8
08002 Barcelona

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